By LARRY STINE T-G Correspondent CLEVELAND -- There

Sunday

May 27, 2012 at 5:00 AM

Doug Haidet

By LARRY STINET-G CorrespondentCLEVELAND -- There was no exorcising these "demons" for the Ashland baseball team.For the second straight day, the Westlake Demons found themselves down with three outs to go, only to come up with a six-run top of the seventh before using a double play to help quell an Ashland comeback and top the Arrows 10-7 in Division I regional championship action Friday at Case Western Reserve University.The win sends Westlake (23-6) on to face Massillon Perry on Thursday in Columbus. It is the first-ever trip to the final four for both programs.Ashland ends its season with a 23-5 overall record, a district title and regional runner-up finish, along with an Ohio Cardinal Conference championship."I told the kids we just finished a great season and have nothing to be ashamed of and we met a lot of goals, won a conference championship, we made a heck of a tournament run," Ashland coach Rob Lavengood said. "Unfortunately, we didn't quite finish the game today the way we would have liked, but the kids battled and played hard and that's all I can ask."For the second straight day -- after downing Oregon Clay 5-2 on Thursday -- Ashland utilized its bats early on, jumping out to a 4-0 lead against Westlake by smacking five hits off starter Kevin Neumann. Like they did against Clay starter Jordan Grosjean on Thursday, the Arrows chased Neumann after 22/3 innings (four hits, six runs).Leading the charge for Ashland in the first were RBIs from Steven Mowry, Derek Ward (2 for 4, run, RBI); Zach Bernhard (2 for 3, two RBIs) and Brock Landrum.Neumann gave up another pair of runs in the third inning with Bernhard driving in a run on a groundout and Harris picking up an RBI on a bases-loaded walk by Westlake reliever Danny Strodtbeck.But Ashland's bats were quieted by Strodtbeck (6-1) -- who hadn't pitched at all in the postseason -- as he threw 31/3 innings of three-hit relief and he and his teammates began pecking away at AHS.Westlake scored a pair of runs in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by Matt Leonard that plated Jonathan Brick, who led the inning off with a triple. After one out, Andrew Dunn then drove in Leonard with an RBI double before Harris got out of the inning.The Demons then added two more in the sixth to cut Ashland's lead to 6-4, with Spencer Offredo coming up with a two-RBI single to left.But the crushing blow came in the top of the seventh, as Harris hit the leadoff batter, Corey Bowers, with his first pitch.Lavengood pulled Harris in favor of Bernhard. Harris fanned six, walked three and yielded four earned runs on six hits in six innings of work.Bernhard got a quick flyout to right before being touched for back-to-back infield hits in the hole at short. Neumann then smacked a two-run single to tie the game at 6-6 before Bernhard walked Leonard to plate a run and give Westlake a 7-6 lead.It didn't get any better at that point, as Offredo connected for a bases-clearing double down the third-base line to push Westlake's lead to 10-6 before Tyson Vogel came on in relief and induced a fly ball for the final out."We're not necessarily a strong hitting team but we hit when we need to hit if that makes sense," said Westlake coach Jeff Short, who will retire after this season with more than 330 wins after leading Westlake to its first-ever final four. "The kid I'm most proud of is Spencer Offredo (five RBIs). He's got a great head on his shoulders and he had two big hits today."Ashland stranded eight runners to seven for Westlake, but the Arrows battled to the end, loading the bases on consecutive singles by Ward, Bernhard and Landrum in the seventh.Landrum's came off Westlake reliever Kent Axcell, who came on for Strodtbeck.Jake Allton, running for Ward, scored on a wild pitch to cut Westlake's lead to 10-7. But Gabe Bradshaw then hit a screaming liner to third and Westlake's Andy Haders speared the missile and stepped on third to double off Bernhard for a quick two outs. Axcell then recorded a strikeout to end the game. "Ashland came out and you could tell they're a good team, they're well-coached, they're emotional, their fans are great," Short said. "I grew up in northwest Ohio (Archbold) and I'm used to fans like that who go nuts in a good way. I told my kids, our fans are loud but we're not used to all that chanting and I said you have to focus and have to get with our game and then they went up six and we get two, then get two more and we just seem to find ways to win."Westlake 0000226 -- 10 11 3Ashland 4020001 -- 7 8 0Westlake multi-hit players: K. Neumann (2-1b); Brick (3b, 1b); Offredo (2b, 1b); Dunn (2b, 1b).Ashland multi-hit players: Ward (2-1b); Bernhard (2-1b).RBIs -- Offredo 5, K. Neumann 2, Leonard 2, Dunn; Bernhard 2, Harris, Mowry, Landrum.WP -- Strodtbeck, 6-1 (SO-2, BB-4)LP -- Bernhard, 3-3 (SO-0, BB-2)

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.